


What If

by jonks



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Angst, Character Death, Sad with a Happy Ending
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-17
Updated: 2021-03-24
Packaged: 2021-03-25 22:01:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 15,501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30095775
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jonks/pseuds/jonks
Summary: A month and a half ago, Annabeth was supposed to meet Percy for coffee to celebrate the end of high school. But he didn't show. She waited for him for a while because it wasn't unusual for him to be late to a date. It was only after an hour of sitting by herself that she started to worry about him
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Hazel Levesque/Frank Zhang, Jason Grace/Piper McLean
Comments: 3
Kudos: 24





	1. The Present

When I woke up, my cabin was completely empty. The beds were all made, the curtains were open, and Apollo was mocking me by shining the sun cheerily through the windows. There was a steaming cup of tea on the table beside my bed with a balloon attached to the handle, and when I looked up it slowly computed that the balloon said “Happy Birthday” on it. There was a small card leaning against the mug that had the same words on it, no doubt from my cabin-mates. I sighed and shut my eyes tight, trying desperately to keep the tears from falling. My lips trembled but I managed to hold them back. For now.  
I rolled onto my side, hoping to fall back asleep, but the cabin was too bright and there were too many thoughts going through my head. I slowly pulled back the covers and swung my feet over the side of the bed, the cold floor jolting me awake. I stood up carefully, unsure of whether my legs would support me or not. I didn’t bother putting the bed together; I knew I would be back there in a short time, and the person doing inspections wouldn’t dare to give me a bad mark today. I changed into some comfy clothes, grabbed my cup of tea (without the balloon), and opened the door of the cabin. 

Everything looked the same as it always did. I don’t know why I expected anything different. The sun was shining brightly, and campers were running around, trying to get to their daily activities. I saw Will Solace teaching some of the newer Apollo kids how to tie a tourniquet, Drew Tanaka was leading pegasus flight lessons, and I could see the horses clearly agitated by all the attention they were getting from the new campers. I saw a pitch-black winged horse in the corner of my vision, averted my eyes, and continued walking. I could see Leo Valdez through the window of the Hephaestus cabin gesturing wildly and lighting his hands on fire while talking to Jake Mason, probably about a new crazy project of his.

None of that held any interest to me though. 

I walked to the empty dining pavilion, though I knew breakfast was long over. My cabin-mates had let me sleep in, like they knew I would want the day to be as short as possible. I hoped that whoever provided the food would show mercy on me considering what day it was, so I grabbed a plate and was somewhat pleased when food appeared on it. But curse my own head, because when I saw that breakfast for me that day was pancakes drowned in syrup, my stomach turned over and I dumped it all into the brazier. I didn’t dedicate my meal to anyone; no one deserved my prayers at the moment. I wasn’t hungry anymore, so I instead sipped on my tea and stumbled to the Big House, where I hoped Chiron was playing pinochle with Mr. D. But I walked all through the building and around the porch, and I didn’t see him anywhere. _Probably at archery lessons_ , I thought to myself. I put down my now empty cup of tea and glanced at the clock on the wall, and when I saw the time, I gasped and held back a sob. 

I was late. 

I dropped the blanket that was wrapped around me and sprinted out of the Big House, past the lava rock wall and into the woods. I heard someone call my name, but I ignored them and kept running. Once inside the forest, I looked frantically around until I found the water garden that had been planted the month before. There was a special spell on the flowers growing there, to keep all monsters away so as not to trample the delicate stalks. _A gift_ , Demeter had said to me. _For what you lost_.

I approached cautiously and looked around until I found the prettiest of the flowers, the one that smelled the best and glowed the brightest. I gently plucked it from the water, and held it close to my chest. Despite the fact that I could feel my heart thumping in my chest, I felt like I was dying. I was holding a sea green lotus flower, a very special creation from Persephone. _For what he gave_ , she had told me. I walked slowly out of the woods and back into the heart of Camp. I knew as I passed the other campers that they were stopping their activities to watch me pass, but I didn’t care. I just kept walking with my head down. No one called out to me now. When I finally reached my destination, I looked up from the flower and felt the tears quickly rise. They always did at this part. The trident was glowing in the sun, sending rays of light cascading on my face. Almost like a tribute, like it knew what today was. What today meant. I took a deep breath and walked into the Poseidon cabin. 

My entire body was shaking and my breath was trembling and the sobs were rising to the surface and there was nothing I could do to stop them. But I kept walking forward, one step at a time despite the tears. I could almost feel his hand on my shoulder, guiding me forward. 

Everything looked the way it did every day. The bed wasn’t made and the windows were wide open, and the smell of the sea was carried in by a soft breeze. The saltwater fountain was trickling in the corner, the same as it always was, and the hippocampi that Tyson made were still hanging from the ceiling, gently swaying in the breeze. The only thing that was different was the piano in one corner, the small tribute on the desk, and the complete absence of life. 

Today marks exactly one month since Percy was murdered, and every day is more painful than the last.


	2. The Past

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: little bit of torture/blood in this chapter. just be careful :)

A month and a half ago, I was supposed to meet Percy for coffee to celebrate the end of high school. But he didn’t show. I waited for him for a while because it wasn’t unusual for him to be late to a date. He had some issues with being on time. It was only after an hour of sitting by myself swirling my now cold coffee that I started to worry about him. I risked calling him on my cell, but it just went straight to voicemail. _Hello, I’m probably available right now but cannot – for the life of me – find my phone. Please leave a message and I will call you back as soon as I find it_. I had to chuckle at Percy’s answering machine message when I heard it, though it wasn’t enough to distract how worried I was. I went into Manhattan to his house and asked Sally if she’d seen him, but she said no. I tried not to worry her since she was pregnant with Percy’s sister Estelle, but it was hard to calm her down after that. I decided the best thing to do was go to Camp and see if he was there. Him and I were going to head there after our coffee anyways, so I had hoped he just forgot about the coffee part and went straight to Camp. But when I arrived, Chiron had come up to me and asked where Percy was. 

I started to really panic then. I explained to Chiron that I didn’t know where he was, and that he was supposed to meet me and never showed. We tried to Iris Message Percy, but the rainbow remained blank every time we tried. A couple days went by, and still no one had heard from him. I even went so far as to pray to Poseidon for some kind of sign as to where his son could be, but I got nothing. 

It was only until a week later, when I was sitting on Percy’s bed in the middle of the night, that I saw his saltwater fountain glowing in the corner. It usually glowed a little bit, but this was different. It was bright and pulsed and the light filled the entire room, like it was trying to get my attention. This had happened to Percy once before, years ago when Percy had gotten a couple Iris messages from the ghost of Bianca Di Angelo when she was trying to show him what her brother was up to. I walked over, saw one drachma sitting in the bottom of the pool, tossed it into the water spray, and waited for something to happen. After a moment of nothing, an image shimmered into view, and I had to hold back my gasp so no one on the other end would hear me. 

It was Percy, sitting tied to a chair in a dark room, with a figure walking menacingly around him. He was staring at his feet and his mouth was trembling from exertion. His face was bloody and bruised, and I could see blood soaking through his shirt and pants. He had a terrible black eye and there were slashes all over his body, like someone had used him as a training dummy. There was blood dripping onto the floor everywhere I looked, like his entire body had been used as target practice. His ankles were tied to the legs of the chair, and I could see that the rope was so tight it was digging into his ankles. I imagined the same thing was happening to his wrists behind the chair. A figure was talking to Percy, and its voice was deep with a strange accent I was sure I had heard before. 

“Just tell us how to get there, and I’ll let you go,” the voice said. 

Percy slowly shook his head, his hair swaying back and forth. “Like I said before, I won’t tell you anything.” A fist came out of nowhere and slammed into Percy’s jaw, making his head whip to the side with the force of the punch. He let out a small groan and spit on the floor. “You can torture me all you like, but you and I both know that I’m not going to talk, and you’ll kill me whether I tell you anything or not.” There was a chuckle from the darkness, and I could see his captor wiping the blood off his knuckles with a stained white handkerchief. 

“This is true,” the man said, “but it will be less painful for you to tell me what I want to know, rather than continue on like this until your heart gives out.” Percy shut his eyes and shook his head again. 

“I’m not going to sell out my friends just so you can murder them all,” Percy said softly. It was then that I understood: this person wanted my Seaweed Brain to let slip how to get into Camp Half-Blood. Probably Camp Jupiter too. It has always been a secret to our enemies where the weak spots of the Camps were, and monsters and villains were always dying to sneak inside and pick off the demigods. 

But I knew Percy. They had picked to wrong person to capture. His fatal flaw was loyalty to his friends, and now it would bring him to his grave. The tears were streaming down my face, but it was only when Percy’s captor uncapped a familiar sword that I began to truly sob. He was holding Riptide, Percy’s beautiful sword gifted to him by his father, and it was then that I understood. Every slash on Percy’s body had been done by his own sword, the blade that had won him multiple victories and triumphs. The sword that he had carried from the moment he learned who and what he truly was. That knowledge broke something inside of me. Percy looked up to face the person, his eyes pleading and scared, and I watched as the figure lifted the pommel and slammed it down on Percy’s head, immediately rendering him unconscious. I screamed as I watched, and it was then that the person on the other side noticed me watching. He stared straight at me and cursed, then slashed through the Iris message and ended the connection. 

Campers had come running in only moments after, and none of them knew what to do as I sat on the floor screaming Percy’s name and sobbing. I grabbed the fountain and hurled it against the wall, where it smashed into a million pieces. The water seeped into my clothes, and I knew that if Percy were there, he would have grabbed my hand and willed my clothes to dry themselves. The thought made me cry even harder. Surprisingly, it was Dionysus who came running in (with Chiron on his heels), knelt beside me, and held me in his arms while I gasped for breath. And he stayed there until I was able to form coherent sentences. I told them what I had seen, every horrible moment, and when I looked into the sea of campers, every single one had tears in their eyes. We all loved Percy, and it was horrible that something like this could happen to him. He was supposed to be indestructible.

Later that day, I realized something from the Iris message. There had been a sign in the background that had said “Monocle Motors” and that name was very familiar to me. I ran out of the Poseidon cabin and charged into the Hephaestus cabin, yelling for Leo. He came out of somewhere rubbing grease off his hands with a cloth. 

“What’re you hollering about?” he asked me. 

“Monocle Motors. You’ve been there, haven’t you?” I demanded. 

“Well yeah. That’s where me, Jason, and Piper crash-landed on our quest. Why?” His eyes widened when he saw the look in my eyes. “Is that where you think Percy is?”

“I _know_ that’s where he is. I saw it, but it didn’t compute until just now. We need to go.” I ran out   
without waiting for Leo and went straight to the Big House. “Chiron!” I yelled. 

He came around the corner in his wheelchair, and when he saw me his eyes filled with pity. “What can I help you with, my dear?”

“I need you to give me a ride.”

“And to where, exactly, do you need a ride to?”

“Monocle Motors!” Leo said from behind me, his breath coming in gasps. “In Detroit.”

“It’s where Percy is being held, I know it.” Chiron stared at me like he wasn’t sure he believed me. But he nodded and got out of his chair, allowing his real body to be visible. He swung Leo and I onto his back, and without preparing anything for our journey, he galloped away from Camp. 

It didn’t take long to arrive at our destination, though Chiron stopped farther away from the spot than I had thought he would. “We need to sneak up on them,” he told me. I nodded and pulled out my knife, taking careful steps toward the building. Chiron waited for us outside. He would’ve been too loud to come with us. When I got inside, I could hear my heart pounding in my chest. Percy was there, I knew it. Leo motioned for me to follow him, and he led me into a dark basement. 

“We need to be careful,” he whispered. “This was home to Ma Gasket and her two sons. They’re Cyclopes. Jason, Piper, and I killed them when we were here last, but I don’t know if they’ve reformed already.” I nodded to show that I understood but continued on. Nothing was going to stop me. 

I turned a corner and stopped in my tracks. I could hear someone breathing, but it didn’t sound like a monster. It was raspy, uneven, and every so often, the person would let out a groan. My heart told me to charge forward, but my head knew better. It could be a trap, and I needed to figure out the safest way to get Percy out of there without causing him any more harm. 

I poked my head around the corner and… there he was. His head was hanging limply and his hair was in his face. There were more bruises on him than before, and his head was bleeding where the sword pommel had connected with it. 

But something felt wrong. It was too quiet.

Just then, someone stepped in front of me, blocking my view of Percy. “Well, well,” it whispered. “What do we have here?” I looked into his face and immediately felt like an idiot. I knew I had   
recognized the person’s voice. It was Dr. Thorne, from Westover Hall all those years ago. 

“Let Percy go,” I demanded softly, but Thorne just laughed in my face. Percy remained silent, which told me that he didn’t hear us. He didn’t know I was there. 

“I don’t think so. Whether he gives me information or not, the Son of Poseidon is a very treasured prisoner. He put up a good fight, but I think I’ve finally broken him.” There was a quiet laugh from behind him. 

“You can’t break me Thorne. I haven’t told you anything.” Percy coughed and I could hear the strain in his voice as he spoke. It sounded like someone had taken a grater to his vocal cords. Like he had been screaming for hours. 

“Oh?” Thorne said. “I think you’ll change your mind in a moment.” He stepped to the side and pulled me into the light, but Percy didn’t even have the strength to lift his head. Thorne sighed and walked over to him, grabbed his face harshly and lifted it so Percy could see me. His eyes widened and he clenched his jaw. 

“Annabeth?” He whispered. He began to struggle with renewed strength, and the desperation in his eyes was too much to bear. I could see fresh blood dripping down his feet from the pressure of the ropes as he strained to break free. Thorne just stood there and laughed. I knew that if I made a move toward Percy, Thorne would either kill him or me, so I stayed where I was and watched the scene unfold. 

“You know, I’ve had the Son of Poseidon here for a week, and he hasn’t relinquished any information on your beloved Camp. Believe me, I’ve had to get creative to try and pry it out of him. But now that I have you here, maybe he’ll loosen his tongue.” Thorne walked toward me with Riptide in his hands, and I began to back away when Percy yelled “Stop!” His voice cracked with the effort. 

The manticore whipped around with a smile on his face. “What?”

“Stop. Please. I’ll tell you anything you want to know, I’ll do anything you want me to. Just don’t hurt Annabeth. Please.” He managed to lift his head enough to look Thorne in the eyes for a moment before dropping his gaze again. 

“What a sorry sight this is,” Thorne mocked. “The almighty Son of Poseidon reduced to nothing. Begging, completely useless. It’s quite a sight, really.” He knelt in front of Percy’s face and lifted it again with his finger. “Tell me what I want to know, or she dies.” He pointed to me with Riptide, and Percy followed the gesture to look at me. There was no hope in his eyes. That sparkle of light that I always loved about him was gone, his sea-green eyes dull and almost lifeless. He glanced beside me, his eyes following something in the darkness, then looked back at Thorne and whispered, “Rot in hell.” Percy spat in his face, and in the same moment, Thorne stabbed Percy in the chest with his own sword. Under normal circumstances, it wouldn’t be a fatal blow. A serious injury, yes, but something that he would have been able to recover from if I acted quickly enough. But with everything that had already been done to Percy, the injuries he had already sustained and the energy he had expelled, it would be enough. I screamed and scrambled toward Percy, but Thorne stepped in front of me. The rage in his face was unparalleled, and I was ready to meet my end when suddenly, he burst into dust and there was Leo, who I had completely forgotten about, standing there with a knife at his side. I knew then that Percy had been watching Leo sneaking in the dark, making sure that Thorne would be killed and I would be safe before making his final move against the manticore.

I picked up Riptide and ran over to Percy, slicing through the ropes binding his wrists and ankles. Leo helped me get him on the ground, which was slick with Percy’s blood, and I sat there holding him as he gasped for breath. I laid his head on my lap and he stared up at me as I cried. Leo ran to get Chiron, but I knew it would be too late by the time they got back. There was nothing that could be done. 

“You idiot,” I said softly. “Why wouldn’t you wait for Leo to kill him? We could’ve gotten you out!”

“He would have… seen Leo. Needed to… distract him. Only… way.”

I gently brushed the hair out of Percy’s face with shaking hands, and he stared at me like I was the only thing left in the world. 

“I have loved you,” he gasped, “since the day I met you. I might not have known what it was then, but I have always loved you.” I sobbed and grabbed his fragile hand. “I’m sorry I didn’t meet you for coffee.” He laughed then started coughing into his other hand, and when he pulled it away there was blood in his palm. Time was running out. 

“I love you Seaweed Brain. I have loved you since you pulled me underwater in the Sea of Monsters to stop me from going to the Sirens. I love your laugh, and your smile, and the way your face lights up every time you get near the ocean. I love that you bring me tea in bed when I’m sick, and how you read me to sleep when I wake up from nightmares. I love that you listen to my rants about architecture because I know you don’t really care but you listen anyways. I love how loyal you are to your friends, even when it gets you in trouble, and I love that you don’t care what gods you piss off, you always just say what you’re thinking, and that’s something I have always admired about you.” The words were pouring out of my mouth in great gasps, and my tears were falling on his face, wiping away the blood. “I love you more than I can express, and I just want you to know that.” He squeezed my hand as hard as he could, his eyes brimming with tears. 

“My pocket,” he said. I looked at him because I knew Riptide was on the other side of the room. It hadn’t reappeared in his pockets yet. “Annabeth, my pocket, _please_.” His breath was becoming labored now. I reached into his pocket and felt something hard. I wrapped my hand around it and pulled it out into the dim light. It was a small black velvet box. I looked Percy in the eyes and saw that he was crying now. “I was going to give that to you at coffee. I want you to have it now.” I slowly opened the box, and sitting in the middle was the most beautiful ring I had ever seen. “I asked a favor from Aphrodite. She helped me pick it out. I even… went to San Francisco and… asked your dad for his blessing. I asked Athena too and… she reluctantly said yes.” He held open his palm, and I laid the ring in it. “Annabeth I have to know… would you have said yes?” he asked. 

“A million times over.” I reached out my left hand to him, and he gently slid the ring on my finger. He let out a sigh of relief, then laid his head back. I sobbed and through the tears whispered, “Seaweed Brain.”

“Wise Girl,” he replied. 

And then he was still.


	3. The Lost boy

I was sitting on the floor cradling his head when Leo came back with Chiron. They didn’t even try to hide their grief when they saw us there on the bloody floor, me sobbing into his hair, his sea-green eyes glassy and unseeing. Leo came over and knelt beside me, reached out gently to shut Percy’s eyes. I heard Chiron come up behind me but luckily he didn’t try to say anything to me for a while. I heard him mutter a prayer of safe passage through the Underworld, but other than that we were all silent. 

It was probably an hour later that Chiron knelt and put a hand on my shoulder. “He shouldn’t have to stay here any longer,” he said kindly. I nodded numbly but didn’t move, not wanting to relinquish my hold on him. It wasn’t fair to make his body stay in this horrible place, but _my_ body didn’t seem to be able to move of its own accord. Eventually, Leo came over and gently wrapped his arms around me and pulled me off the ground. I stayed there in his arms and cried into his shirt for a while. 

Finally, we heard a dim roar from outside, and while I looked up in fear, Leo calmed me down and told me he had sent for Festus when we arrived to help bring us all back. Chiron gently pulled me to him and guided me outside while Leo bent down and picked up Percy’s lifeless body from the floor. I wasn’t sure how a small guy like Leo could such a heavy weight like… _him_ , but he seemed to manage just fine. I knew Chiron didn’t want me to see it, but I looked back anyways and allowed my heart to break even further. It was the most horrible thing I’d ever had to see. 

When we made it outside, the bronze dragon was waiting for us. He shot a column of flame into the sky when he saw Leo, but when he saw the body, his ruby eyes dimmed. Even the machines mourned him. Chiron lifted me on to his back again while Leo climbed on the dragon. I could only watch as Festus picked up Percy’s body in his claws with surprising gentleness, and took off to the sky. Chiron looked back at me like he wanted to say something, but thought better of it and started home. 

We stopped sooner than expected, and it took me a moment to realize we were outside Sally’s house in Manhattan. “She needs to know first,” Chiron whispered. “I will tell her, if you would like.” I slid off his back and wiped my tears away.

“No, I’ll do it.” I turned to the door of the apartment, but looked back at Chiron before hitting the buzzer. “Don’t let Leo get there before me, ok?” Chiron nodded and told me that although Leo had a much longer journey than we did, he would make sure that we arrived at camp first. Chiron gave a small, pained smile and told me he’d just be in the coffee shop down the street when I was finished. 

I paused before the front doors of the building, my finger hovering over the button. I took a deep breath and gently hit the buzzer and heard Sally’s voice on the other end. “Hello?”

“Hi Mrs. Jackson. It’s Annabeth. Can I come up?” She didn’t answer but buzzed open the door for me. When I made it to her place, she was standing in the doorframe, her face already somber and downcast. Paul was standing right behind her, a steadying force at her back for whatever news I came to deliver. But when she saw my face, her legs collapsed beneath her and Paul had to catch her before she hit the ground. She crumpled into Paul’s arms and wailed. I didn’t even have to say anything. Paul carried Sally inside, and gestured for me to follow. I shut the door and sat with them on the couch and waited while Sally sobbed into her husband’s chest. After a while, she regained some composure, looked at me, and said, “how?”

So I told her everything. 

By the time I was done, we were all crying again. 

“We’ll burn a shroud for him at Camp, if that’s something you’d like to be there for. Usually mortals don’t attend, but I think Chiron could make an arrangement.” I wiped away a stray tear and looked at Paul. He was sitting beside Sally with his hand resting gently on her round stomach. It was a beautiful and deeply saddening sight. Percy was never going to know his little sister, the girl that he spoke about with such joy that you couldn't help but smile. He used to kneel in front of his mom and talk to the baby. He would sit on the couch and read children’s stories to her, would strum his guitar and sing for her. He had worshipped that little girl before she had even entered the world. He finally had the family that he'd always wanted, and now he wouldn't get to experience it. I was looking at the life that I was supposed to have. With him. “Oh, I almost forgot,” I got to my feet and walked over to Sally. “I don’t know if he ever told you, but he was planning to give me this during coffee last week. He managed to give it to me before…” I wasn’t able to finish the sentence, but I held out my hand so she could see the ring on my finger. She gazed at it for a few moments before wrapping her hands around mine and giving me a big hug. 

“He never told me,” she said, “But I always knew you were going to be the one for him. The way he talked about you…” She didn’t have to finish her sentence. I knew what she meant. 

I stayed a while longer, but eventually it was time for me to go back to Camp. I said my goodbyes and went to the café where Chiron was sitting in his wheelchair drinking a cup of coffee. When he saw me he put down his mug and rolled out the door. Together we walked down the street in silence, still trying to grasp all that had happened. 

Chiron spoke up after a couple minutes.” I sent an Iris message to Leo and told him to wait to return until we were back at Camp. He explained that Festus would know when we were back and that they would follow shortly after.” I nodded my thanks and continued walking. Suddenly I felt a light tap on my shoulder, and I turned around to see Paul standing before me.

“Sally was going to come, but I didn’t want to make her chase after you in her condition.” He rubbed the back of his neck nervously. “She – we, would like to come. If that’s alright. It would mean a lot to Sally, and… to me as well.” It made me get choked up hearing Paul talk that way. He hadn't known Percy for too long, but I could see how much affection Paul had for him. I looked at Chiron and knew that he understood what Paul was asking. 

“Of course. We would be saddened if you weren’t there. _Percy_ would be saddened if you weren’t there.” Chiron wrote out directions on how to get to Camp and told him that someone would be waiting at the top of the hill to let them inside. When Paul had gone, Chiron returned to his true form and brought us back to Camp Half-Blood.

When the campers saw that we had returned, they gathered around, waiting for good news on Percy. But when they saw mine and Chiron’s faces, their eyes turned saddened and grief-filled, even without any words being said. 

I slid off Chiron’s back and looked in the crowd for a familiar face, but he was nowhere to be seen. “Where’s Grover?” I asked quietly. Someone said that he was with the Council of Cloven Elders, and that they would go retrieve him for me. It was then that a mournful roar filled the air and Festus landed softly on the grass beside us, his one claw suspended in the air. I knew what he was holding, and I didn’t dare look. Leo got off his back and before doing anything else, he walked up to me and handed me something silver. 

Riptide. It hadn’t returned to Percy’s pocket. 

It never would. 

Leo lifted Percy’s body from the dragon’s claws, then carried him all the way to the Poseidon cabin while the others watched. It was a horrific sight that none of us thought we would ever have to endure. 

It was only a few moments before I heard someone yelling, and I turned toward the woods to see Grover running toward me, tears running down his face. He gripped the sides of my arms tightly, his knuckles white. “Tell me it’s not true,” he begged. “Tell me Percy isn’t… dead.” I could only shake my head and hug him as tight as I could. He seemed real in a time that nothing else did. His body shook against mine, and we stayed that way for a while, not caring how it looked to everyone else. 

When Grover finally calmed down, he grabbed my hands in his and prayed a blessing over Percy. Then he grabbed my left hand in his, stared at my finger and said, “what is this?”

I sighed. “He gave it to me right before he… you know. He wanted me to have it.” Grover nodded solemnly. 

“He had a plan, you know? He told me all about it. In fact, he talked about it so much that it was getting kind of annoying. He had everything prepared down to the second. I don’t know how much he told you, but he loved you more than anyone on the planet. He was so in love, even Aphrodite was be impressed. He talked about you all the time, even when we were younger.” I held Grover’s hand and pulled him towards the cabins. 

“Do you want to see him? Before we…” Grover just nodded slowly and allowed me to lead him. We reached the threshold of the Poseidon cabin, but didn’t make any move to go inside. “He’s in there,” I said. “I just want to warn you though, he doesn’t look good. He was in bad shape when we got there, and… well I guess you’ll see.” We opened the door to find a man already standing there. He had salt and pepper hair and was wearing a Tommy Bahama shirt and Bermuda shorts, and he looked remarkably like Percy. When he turned to face us, he was crying. I had never seen a god cry. I didn’t know it was even possible. He was standing over his sons body, which had been cleared of the blood and dirt, and aside from the bruises and cuts, he looked like he could just be sleeping. 

I wished he was just sleeping.


	4. The Last Gathering

I stood beside Poseidon and looked down at the boy we both loved while Grover said his goodbyes. After a few moments of silence, the god put his hand on my shoulder and continued looking at his son. 

“It was his time, Annabeth.” It wasn’t a comforting statement to hear, but one that I needed to hear nonetheless. “However, I did not expect it to end like this. But I feel you should know,” he turned to look at me then, and his eyes were gleaming with tears. “He prayed about you, every day, and I heard him every time.” He took a deep breath, and I suddenly became afraid of what he was going to say. “Annabeth, I’m sure you have heard this a lot today, but Percy loved you. And I know you understand the concept of love, but I don’t think you quite realize the depth of Percy’s feelings for you.” I held my breath as Poseidon spoke. “Love is… unexplainable. It’s something that we all hope for, and it’s something that many of us acquire throughout our life. But I have never seen someone love another as much as Percy loved you. Percy was a hero. He was… the bravest half-blood I have ever seen, and that’s not me being biased." He patted my shoulder and turned toward the door. “You should go to the hill. They’re waiting for you.” And then he was out the door. 

I left Grover in the cabin to mourn on his own and trudged to the top of Half-Blood Hill. And there on the other side of the magic barrier was Sally and Paul, waiting for someone to retrieve them. I knew they couldn’t see me standing in front of them, and instead just saw a strawberry field stretching into the distance. 

“I, Annabeth Chase, give you permission to enter Camp.” With those words, it was like I suddenly appeared before them. Their eyes widened and they saw the valley for what it actually was: The Big House, the satyrs wading through the strawberries, the campers leaving tokens at the door of the Poseidon cabin. They saw the pegasi and the nymphs, and could hear the monsters rustling in the forest. Sally had an easier time adjusting to everything because she had been able to see through the Mist and was aware of the world that surrounded her. But Paul was astounded, confused by everything he was seeing for the first time. He had understood in words what Percy’s life was like, but he had never really seen it for himself aside from the battle with Kronos. He had never seen this life in a peaceful state. 

“Come on, I’ll take you to him.” I reached out for Sally’s hand, and she gladly took it and allowed me to lead them to Percy’s cabin. There was a long line of campers waiting outside the door to pay their respects, but when we approached they parted immediately to let us pass. I took a deep breath and opened the door for them, and it took my breath away again to see him lying there, utterly lifeless. I left Sally and Paul alone in the cabin and told all the other campers to scram for the time being. 

I knew that Chiron was working on the burial shroud, but since I had already prepared one for Percy once, I didn’t have the heart to contribute again. So I walked with Grover as we talked about our favorite memories of him, how he used to laugh at all the wrong times, how he always got himself into trouble he couldn’t handle on his own. 

Eventually, Clarisse of all people, came up to us and told us it was time to burn the shroud, and that Chiron was looking for me. I found him inside the Big House with Sally, Paul, and surprisingly, Poseidon. They were all sitting on the couches waiting for me, and when I walked inside they stood. Sally looked over to Paul and Poseidon, took a deep breath and said, “We’ve decided that Percy should be buried here. He loved this place more than anything, and I think it would be wrong to bury him anywhere else.” Poseidon was nodding with Sally, and the love in his eyes was unmatched. He stared at her round belly and smiled, knowing what joys were about to befall her and Paul. I had the feeling that, if Sally had agreed, Poseidon would have made her his immortal wife long ago, with the way that he was looking at her. 

“I agree,” I said. “I think that’s a wonderful idea.” I blinked back tears and continued. “It should be down by the water. If he could’ve picked, that’s where he’d want to be.” They all nodded in agreement. Poseidon, Paul and Sally went back outside, leaving me and Chiron alone in the house. 

“I know this has been a horrible day for you, but I do have something that I’m hoping will – at the very least – make you feel not quite so alone.” At that moment, the front door opened, and in walked Leo Valdez, Piper McLean, Frank Zhang, Hazel Levesque, and Tyson. 

“We’ve come to pay our respects, and to honor a friend,” Piper said softly. She of all people, understood what I was going through. She had just lost Jason, and her grief was still clearly shown on her face. 

“We’ve come to carry his shroud with you, if you’ll have us,” Frank said. 

I choked back a sob and nodded. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.” I noticed Tyson crying for his lost brother, and I walked up to him and hugged him as tight as I could. He stiffened at first, because he knew how wary I was of him in the past, but he quickly relaxed and wrapped his huge arms around me. 

After a few moments, we all picked up Percy’s burial shroud together. It was much different than the first time I had done this. Before, it was just a long, green silk cloth with a trident on it. Now, it was sea-green with a large trident in the middle, and expertly stitched into the cloth were images of his past adventures and experiences. 

There was the moment when we returned the lightning bolt to Olympus, with all the gods standing around us. The time when Percy and I sat underwater in the Sea of Monsters in an air bubble. The battle on Mount Othrys when Percy was holding up the sky, and the moment when he met Rachel Dare at Hoover Dam. Even the time when he was on Calypso’s island. It showed him flying on Blackjack during the battle with Kronos, and our incredible underwater kiss when everyone had thrown us off the end of the dock. 

It showed more intimate moments too. When he found out his mother was pregnant, when he and I went on our first real date. It showed him training with Lupa in the time when he disappeared and no one knew where he was. There was him and Hazel and Frank fighting the giant in Alaska, and me judo-flipping him when I reunited with him at Camp Jupiter. It showed the moment we fell into Tartarus, and when we said hello to the stars for Bob. And finally, it showed him and I lying on the floor in that dreaded room, him smiling up at me as he took his last breaths. 

There were so many more pictures that I can’t even describe them all, but it was such a beautiful sight to see. 

The cloth showed the lifespan of a true hero, of someone who lived his life to the fullest. I didn’t understand how some of those pictures were on there because no one else knew about them, but for once I didn’t question the logic. I just held it in my hands with pride, and carried it out the front door of the Big House to the waiting crowd beyond. 

It took me a moment to register what I was seeing in the light of the braziers glowing along our path. People lined up on each side of the path, but it was not only campers who stood watching. Sally and Paul were at the end of the path by the pyre, waiting for us to get to them. But on both sides of the pathway were all twelve Olympian gods, paying their respects to a boy who saved them time and time again. I saw Aphrodite, standing between her husband and her boyfriend, wiping a tear off her cheek. Hermes stood with his head bowed, muttering some kind of prayer in Ancient Greek. Ares looked stony, but the fire in his eyes was dull behind his sunglasses. Even Dionysus looked pained as he stood arm-in-arm with his wife Ariadne. He nodded as we walked past him, and I saw for the first time that he truly cared for Percy, the boy he could never get the name right for. Hera stood next to Zeus, with Apollo and Artemis standing beside them. Apollo was softly playing a mournful tune on his lyre, and the Hunters of Artemis shot flaming arrows into the sky when they saw our arrival. Thalia was letting her tears fall freely as we passed by; for the brother she had already lost, and the friend she never thought she would lose. Hestia was standing behind one of the lit braziers, her face glowing in the soft light. Poseidon stood next to Sally, a comforting presence at her side. Demeter and Persephone were there, standing tall and silent, making flowers grow in the fading light. Surprisingly, even Hades was there, standing in the shadows with his hands on Nico’s shoulders. The young boy had tears in his eyes for the boy he had once loved, though he now held the hand of Will Solace, Nico’s new light in all the darkness. I even saw Rachel Dare in the crowd, her eyes red and puffy from crying. And finally, I saw Athena, my own mother, silently weeping for my lost love. For the boy she had looked down on from the moment him and I had met. The boy she disapproved of from the very start. We passed so many friends and family as we walked, I could barely comprehend it all. 

It felt like a lifetime before we reached the pyre, but we finally made it, and laid the silk on the logs. We smoothed it out so the pictures were clear and un-wrinkled. I finally understood how the pictures got there when I saw the Fates in the crowd, their knitting needles out and their eyes slightly less dull than usual. They knew all, saw all, and they had documented it for everyone else to see. I silently thanked them, though I wasn’t sure if they heard it. Once the silk was laid out, Chiron came forward to say a few words. 

“Friends… family. We gather here today to honor a man who saved us more times than we can count. He returned the lightning bolt and the helm of darkness. He travelled to the Sea of Monsters to save his best friend _and_ retrieve the Golden Fleece. He withstood the weight of the sky to save his friends from certain death. He navigated the Labyrinth, and he was a key player in the destruction of Kronos. He went through Tartarus and back, just to return here and continue to fight. We lost him many times along the way, but he came back more determined than ever to save the day. 

“But now, we must truly say goodbye to this hero. He has fought his last battle, and he goes now to join the other heroes in Elysium.” Many people turned their heads to Hades, who subtly nodded a confirmation. Chiron continued, “Percy Jackson managed many things during his too-short life. He brought peace to the Olympians more than once, he reunited friends, and he cleared past mistrusts between Camp Jupiter and Camp Half-Blood.” He motioned to the Camp Jupiter campers in the crowd. Reyna and Dakota were the first ones I could spot, but I knew there were more. “Percy was the best of us, a true warrior. He was easy to love and never doubted his instincts. He knew what was right and what was wrong, and he was a perfect example of what we all should strive to be. He will be deeply, truly missed, until we meet again in the next world.”

There were many sobs and sniffles from the crowd, and though I didn’t think I had anything left in me, I found myself crying along with them. But I grabbed one of the torches beside the pyre, lit it in a brazier, and waited while Sally, Chiron, Poseidon, Tyson, and Grover lit theirs. Together, we lifted the torches and touched them to the wood, and watched as it quickly caught on to the silk. Within moments, the pyre was engulfed in flames, and all we could do was watch it burn in the darkness, taking all of our memories of Percy along with it.


	5. The Final Goodbye

Once the shroud finished burning, a group of campers carried Percy’s body down to the beach on one of those wooden stretcher-type things. Someone had already taken the time the dig the grave, and there was a coffin waiting beside it. It was a disturbing sight, but the coffin was made out of Celestial Bronze and was a dark, deep blue with a small trident at the top. 

When we all reached the site, the campers set Percy on the ground and watched as Poseidon strolled up to his son with Sally on his arm. The god knelt, picked up his beloved boy, and gently placed him in the coffin. From out of nowhere, he produced a sea-green trident from behind his back, and placed it in Percy’s hands. A Son of Poseidon indeed. Sally was shaking as she approached the casket, one hand on her stomach, and Poseidon came to her side to help her close the lid on their son’s sleeping face. When it was shut, Sally broke down and fled into Poseidon’s arms and wept. It was quite a sight. A god and his mortal love, crying together over their lost boy. It took a few pained minutes before Poseidon sadly gestured for Paul to take his place. Sally’s husband pulled her off to the side for some privacy. 

Almost like it was rehearsed, every single camper came forward one at a time to lay a rose on the casket before it was lowered into the ground. Even those who didn’t personally know him had heard stories of what he’d done and wanted to pay their respects to him. Each of the gods placed their flower as well, and eventually it was only me who hadn’t gone. I walked up to the box, and knowing who was inside it… I felt my heart snap in half. I had twelve roses, and I placed each one down individually. Each time I let one go, I said something I would miss about him. 

“Your smile. Your laugh. The way your fingers twitched when you were nervous. How you bounced on your toes before a fight. The way your eyes sparkled. How you would sing me to sleep. The way you held me. The love you had for your family. How you always knew right from wrong. How you bit your tongue when you were concentrating. How your eye would twitch when you were annoyed.” My voice caught in my throat as I put down the last one. “How you used to call me ‘Wise Girl’.” Then suddenly, without any warning, my legs gave out, and I was on laying on the side of the casket, wailing my grief and anger, feeling my tears wet the cold Celestial Bronze. There were firm but gentle hands on my shoulders, and I looked up to find my mother at my side. She smiled sadly and pulled me to my feet, cradling me in her arms as I wept. It was from there that I watched the coffin sink slowly into the ground, while the Nine Muses (and Apollo) played another sombre tune. 

One by one, the campers slowly fled back to their cabins. They would mourn on their own time, in their own ways. Many of them touched my shoulders or told me they were sorry as they passed, but I barely heard them. I felt numb to the world around me. I didn’t know how to live my life without Percy in it. Eventually, it was just me, Sally, Paul, and all the gods left standing there as the braziers slowly died. 

Zeus and Hera were the first to go. They just looked over at me sadly and vanished. There was nothing they could have said to make me feel better anyways. It was Hades’ turn next. He walked up to me and said, “I’ll look after him, don’t worry.” I nodded and watched him vanish into the shadows. Ares, Hephaestus and Aphrodite came after. “I hate to admit it, but I’ll miss the punk,” Ares told me. Aphrodite agreed, kissed my forehead and walked along the beach with her boyfriend. Hephaestus watched them go, and for the first time I wondered how much it must hurt him to watch his wife walk away from him time and time again. I reached out and grabbed his hand, gave it a squeeze and smiled at him. He smiled back, then vanished. Apollo approached me, and for once he didn’t have any poems to spout. “He was a good kid,” he said to me. Then he was gone as well. 

“As far as men go,” Artemis spoke from behind me, “he wasn’t bad. If I had to choose someone for a maiden to be with, it would’ve been him.” I smiled lightly, knowing how high of a compliment that was. 

“Thank you,” I replied. There was a light cough, and I looked around until I spotted Dionysus standing there with his wife. 

“I hate to say it,” he said to me, “but Percy Jackson will be missed. He was, by far, the best hero I ever knew.” I stared at the god in shock. 

“Mr. D… you got his name right.”

He nodded sadly. “He deserves it.” He kissed my cheek, held his wife close, and walked back toward the Big House. 

The last few gods and goddesses had vanished without a word, and finally, it was just Athena and Poseidon. They stared at each other intently, and I could see the rivalry raging behind their eyes. But for that moment, they both pushed it aside. Athena grieved for the son of Poseidon that I loved, and Poseidon grieved for the love that the daughter of Athena lost. I walked up to Poseidon and hugged him tight. I motioned for him to bend down, and I whispered in his ear, “I will never forget him. What he gave, what he sacrificed.” He looked at me with a strange light in his eyes. 

He held my left hand up to the light. “I would’ve been proud to call you my daughter.” Then he whispered quieter, “though I’m not sure how pleased your mother would be if she heard me saying it.” He winked at me, and my heart clenched in my chest. He looked just like Percy. He gave my hand a final squeeze, cast one more glance at the now full grave, and waded into the lake. 

I realized then that Demeter and Persephone had returned, so I walked over to them and asked what they were doing back. 

“We have a gift for you,” Persephone replied, and motioned for me to follow them. They led me into the woods, with my mother close behind me. A short ways in, I realized there was a patch of glowing… something. It hadn’t been there in the past, so clearly it was something made by the two goddesses. I walked up to it and saw that it was a small pool of water – a water garden – and floating delicately on the top of the water were lotus flowers. But not just any lotus flower – they were sea-green, the exact color of Percy’s eyes. 

Demeter explained to me that she had placed a special enchantment on the garden to keep anything but humans away, so the flowers would never get trampled. “A gift,” she said. “For what you lost.”

Persephone approached the garden and pulled one of the flowers out of the pool. “I created these in honor of Percy Jackson. They will never wilt, never die, even when pulled from the garden.” She handed me the flower, and when I smelled it, I realized it smelled exactly like him. “For what he gave,” she said to me. And then they were both gone. 

I turned to my mother, knowing she was leaving soon as well. But she just held out her hand to me. I took it and allowed her to lead me away from the woods. She walked me back – not to the Athena cabin – but to the Poseidon cabin, where she opened the door for me and watched me walk inside. She sat on one of the bunks while Tyson snored on the other side of the room, so I went and sat with her. She pulled back the blankets and watched as I crawled into the bed and pulled the blankets up to my face. She stroked my hair and I felt my eyes starting to close. I hadn’t realized how exhausted I was until that moment. It was the first time I felt like I actually had a mom, and the fact that she was sitting there on the worst night of my life made me feel just a little better. The last thing I heard before I fell asleep was Athena saying, “for a son of Poseidon, he was a good man.”


	6. The Birthday

The day after Percy died, I conducted a ritual. Every day, I wake up and try to eat some breakfast. I usually fail. Then, at ten o’clock, I walk to the woods to pick the nicest flower I can find from the garden Persephone and Demeter gave us. After choosing the flower for the day, I walk to Percy’s cabin, to the saltwater fountain, and place the flower in the water. My own personal tribute. Each day, I take the flower from the previous morning, replace it with the new one, bring the old one out to his grave, and the one that I replace at the grave I take to the canoe lake. I stand in the water, bend down and let the water carry the flower away from shore. If I watch it long enough, I’ll see the delicate flower sink beneath the waves, and somehow I know that it’s Poseidon collecting them for himself, as his own way of honoring his son. I’m happy that Poseidon and I share the same love for Percy. After placing the flower in the lake, I return to the cabin, sit at the small piano, and begin playing a short song that encapsulated how I felt about him and I. This happens every single day, without fail. Everyone at Camp knows what I’m doing, and has enough respect to let me do it in peace.

Today though… today all I wanted to do was curl up in a ball and cry until my body was dried out. But I forced myself to replace the flowers, to send the old one into the lake. I watched until it sank beneath the waves, then trudged back to the cabin and sat on the piano bench. I glanced to his bedside table, where a small shrine had been set up in his honor. It was just pictures of him with his friends, a few of the lotus flowers to make it look nice. There were some candles lit that never went out, and they gave everything a more sombre feeling. 

I placed my hands on the keys and began to play the same song that I played every day, but it was more emotional than it had been before. Not only was it one month since he died, but it was my eighteenth birthday, a day that I should have been spending with him. But I continued to play the song. 

When the first singing notes arrived, I opened my mouth to sing them, but someone beat me to it. 

_If I could do it all over, maybe I’d do it different. Maybe I wouldn’t be here, in this position_. It was his voice. Percy’s voice. Most people didn’t know this, but Percy had the most beautiful singing voice. It sounded like the sea, like crashing waves and soothing shores. It reminded me of the Sirens every time I heard it, and I never expected to hear it again. 

I turned to look behind me, but he wasn’t there. _Of course he isn’t Annabeth_ , I thought to myself. _He’s gone, and you just have to accept that_. I started the song from the beginning and took a deep breath. 

But again, his voice interrupted mine. But this time, I forced myself to keep playing. 

_If I could do it all over, maybe I’d do it different. Maybe I wouldn’t be here, in this position_. 

“I found you then I lost you. Looking back is torture. And it hurts to know I let you go, you lived right around the corner. And I could’ve had it all, could’ve had it all.” Then all of a sudden, there was a light touch on my shoulder, and I was harmonizing with the love of my life once more. 

“True love, I knew I had it. True love was so hard to find. True love, if I could get it back I’d never let it go this time.”

_True love_. 

“It’s an inspiration” 

_True love_.

“It was mine all mine.”

_True love... I’d never let it go_.

“I’d never let it go. I’d never let it go this time.” The song ended, and I turned to look at the hand on my shoulder. 

And I could see it. Could see the hand. And it was _his_ hand. I looked up, and was looking into his eyes. His hair was still hanging in his face, but those eyes… they were bright and beautiful and they sparkled just the way I remembered them. 

But he was clouded, almost see-through. He was a ghost. 

But he smiled at me, and I forgot for a moment that he wasn’t really here. Not in all the ways that I wanted. But for the time being, he was here in all the ways that mattered. 

“Happy birthday Wise Girl,” he said to me. His mouth twitched to the side in his classic smirk, and I felt my heart clench in my chest. 

“How are you here?” I asked. He just smiled at me knowingly, but didn’t answer my question. 

“You’re wearing the ring,” he said. I looked down at the jewelry and smiled. 

“Of course I am. I would never take it off.” He walked out of the cabin and toward the lake, gesturing for me to follow. When we reached the shore, he sat on the sand and sighed.  
He was staring toward the horizon. “There was so much I wanted to say to you in that room, you know. But I didn’t have the time or the strength to get it all out.” He turned to me then and said, “I have that time now.”

“How though?” I asked. “How do you have this time?” He smiled again and grabbed my hand. 

“Consider it a gift,” he replied. “For your birthday. But don’t press any more, I can’t tell you the details.” He was hiding something, but I was so grateful to be there with him that I didn’t even care. 

“Annabeth,” his voice turned serious. “When I was taken, the day you and I were supposed to meet, I was preparing to tell you that I wanted to marry you. Which is… crazy, since you and I weren’t even eighteen yet. But I was so sure that you were the one for me that I decided to take the plunge. After everything we’d been through together, I wasn’t sure how we could ever be separate again.” After Tartarus, after the battle with Gaia. Percy and I had a bond that no one else could come close to. “I had it all planned out. I was going to wait for you at the café, and when you arrived, I was going to buy you your favorite drink and take you to the nearby park. We were going to chat and drink and enjoy the sunshine, and once we were finished I was going to take you to see some impressive architecture. While you were taking pictures, I was going to get behind you and get on one knee. You were going to turn around and start crying, and I had this whole speech ready.” He stood up and knelt in front of me on one knee. “Annabeth Chase. From the moment I saw you, I was in love. You were kind of annoying and you never stopped talking about architecture and you always called me Seaweed Brain, but you were so beautiful that I was completely distracted whenever I looked at you. That’s why the only insult I could come up with was to call you Wise Girl, and somehow it just stuck. And now, after everything we’ve been through, I want to marry you. 

“I want to marry you because I can watch you for a second, and notice a hundred different things that I love about you. I want to marry you because I want you to be the last thing I see at night, and the first thing I see in the mornings. I want to marry you because you accept all my flaws without question. I want to marry you because when you laugh, your entire face lights up and it fills me with such explosive joy that I have to laugh along with you. I want to marry you because you are the most perfect girl I could ever imagine, and I can’t fathom the idea of spending my life with anyone else. You aren’t afraid to let people know how you feel, and you always come up with the best ideas for how to solve problems. You listen to my terrible ideas and then gently tell me that I’m stupid and that we should do it a different way. When you stand in the sun, your hair turns golden in a way that I’ve never seen before. Every time I look at you, it’s like I’m seeing you for the first time. When you’re thinking deeply, your face scrunches up and your fingers twitch, and sometimes you’ll clench your hands hard enough to leave nail marks on your palms. You are, without a doubt, the most brilliant woman I have ever met, and I wanted so desperately to have a family and grow old with you and when the time was right, we would walk into Elysium together. We would never be separated again. 

“These are all the reasons I love you and want to be with you. And I wish we could have that life now, but it will have to wait a little longer.” I allowed the tears to flow freely down my face as he was kneeling in front of me. “Annabeth, don’t waste the rest of your life wishing I was with you. Don’t allow yourself to be broken from this, because you are stronger than that. I know you are. And I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I knew that you despaired for me. Because,” he gently brushed away my tears and tilted my face to look at his, “I am in Elysium, and I will be waiting for you until you come to join me. I have a house all set up for us. It’s two floors, designed like a modern version of the houses way back in Ancient Greece. White pillars, a courtyard in the middle, and there’s a balcony in the back that overlooks the sea. You’ll be happy to know – and please relay this message to Piper – that our neighbor on the left side is Jason, and he’s waiting for her there as well. And our neighbor across the road is Luke. I see him every day Wise Girl, and he misses you a lot. He can’t wait to see you again.”

He reached forward and cupped my cheek in his hand, then leaned forward and rested his forehead on mine. “I love you so, so much Annabeth Chase. Until I see you again… Happy birthday.” He pressed his lips against mine for a single second, and then he was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you can figure out where that song is from, well done. Why did I pick that one? I don't know either


	7. The Hero

**Percy’s POV**

It was just another day in Elysium. I woke up and the birds were singing and it smelled like spring. Way in the back of my mind, I knew that was crazy because spring didn’t exist in the Underworld. But there were gold and silver flowers blooming outside, and everything smelled so fresh that I was able to be convinced that everything was normal. 

I went about my daily routine. I let my brain wake up for a bit, then went for a swim in the sea that my backyard opened up to. I swam for about an hour and a half, came out, and ate some breakfast. Pancakes of course. I scraped a portion of it into the brazier in my living room, and prayed to Poseidon to keep Annabeth safe. While I was eating I leaned out one of the windows in my living room that opened right next to a window of the house beside me, and I knocked gently on the glass. A beautiful face appeared behind the window and tugged it open while a smile appeared on her face. 

Silena Beauregard looked exceptionally pretty today. “Are you looking for Charlie?” she asked. 

“Is he there or is he in the forge?” 

“He’s down in the depths of the forge, but I can grab him for you if you’d like.” Of course Beckendorf was in the forge. We could barely pry him away from there. 

“Don’t worry about it Silena, I’ll chat with him later. Say hi to him for me!” She waved goodbye and closed her window. 

I walked out my front door and saw Jason sitting in his front yard, reading a book, so I decided to go disturb him. 

“What’re you reading?” I called over to him. He lifted his head, shut the book and walked over to me. He stole a piece of my pancake, but I didn’t care. 

“Romeo and Juliet,” he replied. I snorted and he lightly punched me in the arm. “Don’t laugh! Piper was always ragging on me to read it, so here I am. Reading it.”

“You hate it, don’t you?”

“Yeah, I really do.” Jason smirked and took another piece of my food. “But at least I’ll be able to tell her that I’ve read it.” I chuckled and finished my food while chatting with Jason. It wasn’t long before Luke came out of his place and joined our conversation. 

“What do you think they’re doing up there?” I asked them. Luke looked up at the sky, like he could see right through it to the world above. 

“Well, I can tell you what one person is doing, at least.” I looked at him with a puzzled expression. 

“Dude, we all know that Annabeth is still upset that you’re gone. There’s no way she’d be over it by now, and you know it.”

I sighed. “She should be over it. I don’t want her to worry about me anymore. I just wish there was something I could do about it.”

“There is.” A soft voice came from behind us, and I whipped around to see Nico Di Angelo standing behind me. 

“What are you doing here?” I asked incredulously. Nico had come once before, but I had assumed that was a one-time-only, ‘hey, welcome to death!’ thing. 

“Percy,” he said. “I’m Prince of the Underworld. I’m literally called the Ghost King. I can go wherever I want down here.” I was surprised to hear him sound so… old. 

“What do you mean there’s something I can do about Annabeth? I’m stuck down here.” My heart clenched at even the mention of her name. I missed her. A lot. 

“Percy, Annabeth hasn’t been eating. She barely sleeps. She is wasting away up there because she’s so distraught.” Nico closed his eyes and sighed, like he was about to say something he would regret later. “I’m going to take you to the surface.” 

“What?” I could barely register what he said. 

“I’m going to take you to the surface so that you can talk to Annabeth. Tell her everything you wanted to tell her before you died, and tell her not to let herself waste away. I don’t care what you say, but I can’t watch her deteriorate any more. I spoke with my father and this is his parting gift to you. ‘Don’t let him waste it’ he said to me. You only get one shot at this, and it has to be now.” 

My hands were shaking, and Jason and Luke were staring at me with wide eyes. 

“Perce,” Luke said. “You have to go. Take this chance and talk to Annabeth. She needs you, one last time.” Jason was nodding his agreement.

“Okay,” I turned to Nico. “Absolutely, I’ll do it.” The boy looked relieved. I stood up and started walking away with him. 

“Hey Percy?” Jason called after me. I turned to look at him. “Tell Annabeth to tell Pipes… tell her that I can’t wait to see her again.”

Luke chimed in as well. “Tell Annabeth that I’m here, will you? That I miss her a lot.” I agreed and followed Nico to the gates of Elysium. 

“What now?” I asked. 

“We’re just gonna walk out,” he replied. 

And we did. 

The gates opened wide, and Nico and I walked through the Underworld like it was a normal thing. I chatted with him on and off, told him how Bianca was doing and that I saw her all the time. Her and Zöe were living together, the two Hunters reunited at last. We passed the Fields of Asphodel and Cerberus guarding the EZ Death lines, and I was sad that I didn’t have a red ball for him to play with. Though Nico assured me that the massive dog got much more attention ever since my first trip to the Underworld. When we reached Charon’s boat, the ferryman smiled at me and ushered me on board. He was so much friendlier than I remembered. Maybe he was only nice to me because I was with the Prince of the Underworld and I was actually dead this time. When the boat finally stopped, Nico and I got out of the boat and stood on the shore. 

“What now?” I asked. As far as I knew (which wasn’t a lot) the closest entrance from the Underworld to Camp was near the Hollywood sign, and if I couldn’t get on a plane when I was alive, I definitely didn’t think I’d be able to get on one now. 

Nico just raised his hand in front of him, like he was reaching for something, but instead the wall in front of us split open and sunlight filled my eyes. 

It was… magnificent. I hadn’t seen the sun in a month, and I had forgotten how bright it was. 

And then I realized where we were. 

I was standing at the foot of Half-Blood Hill. I could see Peleus wrapped around Thalia’s tree, the constant protector of the Golden Fleece. I knew what was on the other side of the hill, and my heart ached to see it again. I took a step forward but stopped after a moment. 

“Will she be able to see me?” I asked. 

Nico was silent for a minute. “I’m going to keep you invisible for the next ten minutes, so that you can look around for a bit. If you want to. After that, she’ll be able to see you, but no one else will. She’s just starting her daily ritual right now, so you know where to find her.” Ah yes, the daily ritual. In the time that I had been in Elysium, Nico had visited me once before. He showed me a vision of the Overworld, of Annabeth. What she did every day to honor me. 

It made me cry. What can I say? I’m a softie. I engrained it into my brain, memorized it step for step. So yes, I knew exactly where to find Annabeth, and I knew exactly how I would show myself to her. 

“Nico,” I said to him. “Thank you. I never expected to have more time so… thanks.” He nodded shyly. 

“I’m going to start your ten minutes now.” He turned toward the shadows but stopped before he could disappear. “Oh Percy? Don’t tell Annabeth how you got here. I don’t need her to know it was me. Just let her think it’s some kind of miracle, a gift from Hades.” I promised I wouldn’t tell her, and started the trek up the hill. When I reached the top, I let out a long sigh at the sight I never thought I would see again. It was an immaculate day, a perfect day to be at Camp. The rock wall was pouring lava as usual, and the Big House was standing tall. The strawberry fields were in full bloom as the satyrs played their reed pipes. I looked around for Grover but didn’t see him anywhere. 

I walked over to watch Chiron teach archery, and laughed when someone shot an arrow all the way into the lake. Then I wandered to the stables and saw someone leading pegasus flight lessons. I watched as a new camper tried to approach Blackjack, and even in death I could hear him say _woah-h-h nuh uh. No one’s getting on me anymore. I belong to one boss, and one boss only_. I smiled at the horse’s loyalty and moved on. I had about five minutes left of being invisible, so I went to go find Annabeth. 

It wasn’t hard. She was walking back from my cabin to the beach, where I knew she’d place a flower on my grave. Ugh, I hated that word. It’s so depressing. 

But Annabeth… she looked exactly the way I remembered her. Her hair was golden in the sun, and her face was sad yet focused on her task. She bent to place the new flower on the sand, picked up the old one and carried it to the water. She placed in the lake with surprising gentleness, and watched as the waves carried it from the shore. After a while, the flower dipped beneath the waves, and didn’t come back. Annabeth seemed satisfied with this and returned to my cabin. 

It looked exactly how I remembered it. My bed wasn’t made (of course) and I knew that if I looked under the bed, there would be candy wrappers and empty cans of coke hidden under there. The walls were decorated with pictures of me and my friends on our adventures, memories from a previous life. 

And there, hanging on the wall, was Riptide. In honor of… me, I guess. 

Annabeth walked over to the small piano, sat down, and glanced at the pictures and candles on my bedside table. A single tear traced a path down her cheek, and it was then that I realized what day it was. Why Nico had chosen today. 

It was a month since I died… it was Annabeth’s birthday. 

We had made big plans for this day back when I was alive, and now she wouldn't get to do any of them. She would be inconsolable today. 

This was my final quest in the world of the living, to cheer Annabeth up as best I could. I had never failed a quest, and I wasn’t going to start now. 

She began playing the song that I repeated to myself over and over in Elysium. I had subconsciously memorized all the words, like my mind knew this day would come. She opened her mouth to sing the first words, but I beat her to it.

“If I could do it all over, maybe I’d do it different. Maybe I wouldn’t be here, in this position.” She stopped playing and whipped her head around. Obviously my ten minutes wasn’t up though, because she looked right through me. She shook her head like she was crazy and turned back to the keys. She started the song over, and for the second time I started singing before her. 

“If I could do it all over, maybe I’d do it different. Maybe I wouldn’t be here, in this position.” She managed to keep playing, though I could tell she knew something was up. 

_I found you then I lost you. Looking back is torture. And it hurts to know I let you go, you lived right around the corner. And I could’ve had it all, could’ve had it all_. I placed my hand lightly on her shoulder, and did something I thought I wouldn’t get to do for a long time. I sang with the love of my life once more. 

“True love, I knew I had it. True love was so hard to find. True love, if I could get it back I’d never let it go this time. True love…”

_It’s an inspiration_. 

“True love…”

_It was mine all mine_.

“True love… I’d never let it go.”

_I’d never let it go. I’d never let it go this time_. When the song was over, she turned and looked at her shoulder. 

And she saw me. My hand. She looked up at me, and I was looking into her eyes. They were stormy, and they were beautiful. Just the way I remembered them. 

I smiled at her, and she smiled back at me, like everything was right with the world. 

“Happy birthday Wise Girl,” I said to her. I smirked at her, and I saw her breath hitch. 

“How are you here?” she asked me. I knew I couldn’t respond the way she wanted me to, so I just smiled at her. 

I looked down at her hands and couldn’t help but get emotional. “You’re wearing the ring,” I said. She looked down at it and smiled. 

“Of course I am. I would never take it off.” I walked out of my cabin, gesturing for her to follow, and wandered toward the lake. When we reached the shore, I sat on the sand and sighed. I stared at the horizon, not sure of when I would see it again – _if_ I would ever see it again. 

“There was so much I wanted to say to you in that room, you know. But I didn’t have the time or the strength to get it all out.” I turned to look at Annabeth’s beautiful face. “I have that time now.” It was a strange sensation, to know that I should be nervous, that if this had happened even a month ago, my heart would have been pounding in my chest. But now I felt nothing at all. 

Annabeth shook her head lightly, like she couldn’t comprehend what I was saying. “How though? How do we have this time?” I smiled at her again and grabbed her hand. 

I thought carefully about how to word it. “Consider it a gift, for your birthday. But don’t press any more, because I can’t tell you the details.” I knew that she was suspicious of me, but she thankfully didn’t ask any more questions.

“Annabeth,” I said seriously. “When I was taken, the day you and I were supposed to meet, I was preparing to tell you that I wanted to marry you. Which is… crazy, since you and I weren’t even eighteen yet. But I was so sure that you were the one for me that I decided to take the plunge.” Son of Poseidon joke intended. “After everything we’d been through together, I wasn’t sure how we could ever be separate again.” I knew she was thinking all the same things I was. The Sea of Monsters, the Labyrinth, the battle with Kronos, all of Tartarus, the fight with Gaia, all of it. Annabeth and I shared memories and pain, and heck, we even had a matching gray streak in our hair. “I had it all planned out. I was going to wait for you at the café, and when you arrived, I was going to buy you your favorite drink and take you to the nearby park. We were going to chat and drink and enjoy the sunshine, and once we were finished I was going to take you to see some impressive architecture.” She chuckled at this, because we both knew she could talk about a single statue for hours. “While you were taking pictures, I was going to get behind you and get on one knee. You were going to turn around and start crying, and I had this whole speech ready.” I still had the entire thing memorized, so I stood up and knelt in front of her. 

“Annabeth Chase. From the moment I saw you, I was in love. You were kind of annoying and you never stopped talking about architecture and you always called me Seaweed Brain, but you were so beautiful that I was completely distracted whenever I looked at you. That why the only insult I could come up with was to call you Wise Girl, and somehow it just stuck.” It was a terribly crafted insult, definitely one of my worst, but for some reason I just kept calling her that. “And now, after everything we’ve been through, I want to marry you.”

I took a deep breath and continued. “I want to marry you because I can watch you for a second, and notice a hundred different things that I love about you. I want to marry you because I want you to be the last thing I see at night, and the first thing I see in the mornings. I want to marry you because you accept all my flaws without question. I want to marry you because when you laugh, your entire face lights up and it fills me with such explosive joy that I have to laugh along with you. I want to marry you because you are the most perfect girl I could ever imagine, and I can’t fathom the idea of spending my life with anyone else. You aren’t afraid to let people know how you feel, and you always come up with the best ideas for how to solve problems. You listen to my terrible ideas and then gently tell me that I’m stupid and that we should do it a different way.” She laughed at this, and the sound brought tears to my eyes. “When you stand in the sun, your hair turns golden in a way that I’ve never seen before. Every time I look at you, it’s like I’m seeing you for the first time. When you’re thinking deeply, your face scrunches up and your fingers twitch, and sometimes you’ll clench your hands hard enough to leave nail marks on your palms. You are, without a doubt, the most brilliant woman I have ever met, and I wanted to desperately to have a family and grow old with you and when the time was right, we would walk into Elysium together. We would never be separated again, just like I promised. 

“These are all the reasons I love you and want to be with you. And I wish we could have that life now, but it will have to wait a little longer.” Annabeth was crying in front of me, and it hurt me to see her like this. “Annabeth, don’t waste the rest of your life wishing I was with you. Don’t allow yourself to be broken from this, because you are stronger than that. I know you are. And I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I knew that you despaired for me. Because,” I reached out and brushed her tears away, tilting her face to look at mine. “I am in Elysium, and I will be waiting for you until you come to join me. I have a house all set up for us. It’s two floors, designed like a modern version of the houses way back in Ancient Greece. White pillars, a courtyard in the middle, and there’s a balcony in the back that overlooks the sea. You’ll be happy to know – and please relay this message to Piper – that our neighbour on the left side is Jason, and he’s waiting for her there was well. And our neighbour across the street is Luke. I see him every day Wise Girl, and he misses you a lot. He can’t wait to see you again.” Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Nico standing in the shadows. He tapped his wrist, telling me it was time to go. 

I put my hand on Annabeth’s cheek and rested my forehead on hers. “I love you so, so much Annabeth Chase. Until I see you again… Happy birthday.” I pressed my lips against hers, and for a single second, everything felt right. The next second, my surroundings vanished and I was back in front of the gate to Elysium. 

They opened slowly for me, and I walked numbly back home. Jason and Luke were waiting on my front lawn for me. When they saw me, their faces lit up like I was bringing back good news. 

“So?” Jason asked. “How was it? Did you talk to Annabeth?” I nodded. 

“What’s wrong?” Luke asked. 

I was silent for a moment. “I miss her.” I said quietly.

Luke put his hand on my shoulder. “You’ll see her again. We all will.” He tried to smile but it didn’t reach his eyes. I knew he was trying to make me feel better, but all I felt was… sad. It isn’t supposed to be possible to be sad in Elysium, yet here I was, mourning what I had lost. 

“Percy.” Jason stood in front of my face. “Look at me.” I turned my head away from him, but he just ducked in front of me so I had to meet his eyes. “Percy. Annabeth loves you. She will _always_ love you. And you’ll always love her. And the world is a cruel place to have separated the two of you, but you are guaranteed to be together again. If me and Luke got into Elysium, there’s no way that she won’t end up here too. It’s just a matter of patience.” He must have seen the tears pooling in my eyes, because he grabbed my shoulders and shook me lightly. “I know this sucks. Trust me, I know. I miss Piper just as much as you miss Annabeth. And I understand that you and Annabeth have an unbreakable bond that Piper and I don’t have, but I take comfort in the fact that we’ll be reunited eventually. It won’t be as soon as I’d like, and it won’t be in the way that I’d like, but I _will_ see her again.” He pulled me in and hugged me tight, but it didn’t do anything other make me miss Wise Girl’s hugs even more. 

“It was her birthday today,” I said, wiping impossible tears from my face. “It was her birthday, and I wasn’t there to celebrate with her.”

Luke stared at me. “You _were_ there to celebrate with her. She didn’t expect to see you, let alone talk to you. You gave her the best birthday present she could have asked for today. Plus,” he put his hands in his pockets and looked around sheepishly. “I was possessed by an evil Titan that wanted to murder all half-bloods and the gods and enslave all of mankind on one of her birthdays, so I think I still take the cake of ‘worst birthday surprise’.” I had to laugh at that. I hadn’t thought about it in that way. 

Jason wrapped his arm around my shoulders and lead me to his house. It smelled like barbeque, and I was starving. Inside the house, Beckendorf and Silena were sitting on the couch, and Zöe and Bianca were chatting away, and suddenly I didn’t feel so sad anymore. I looked at Luke and Jason and smiled, because I knew then that everything had worked out the way it was supposed to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more chapter to go!
> 
> Thanks everyone for all the reads, hope you've enjoyed it!


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